The disclosures herein relate generally to a computer chassis and more particularly to the insertion and removal of expansion cards in a alive chassis.
The use of PCI expansion cards in computer chassis is well known. It often becomes necessary or desirable to add or replace these cards in a live chassis, i.e. a chassis that is in an operating mode. Typically, expansion cards include a plug which extends from one edge thereof. The cards are mounted in the chassis in a vertical orientation with the plug edge connected into a horizontal motherboard. This arrangement requires vertical insertion and removal of the card.
However, in order to vertically insert or remove a card, the chassis top cover must be removed. This requires removal of fastening devices which hold the cover in place. As a result, the cover removal is time consuming. Removal of the cover of a live chassis and insertion or removal of a card therein presents additional problems. In some instances, the chassis may be mounted in a component rack. Component racks are used to store components of computer systems in a centralized location. The racks are tall metal cabinets with trays for supporting components including a chassis. If a chassis is mounted in a component rack, and an expansion card is to be added or removed, the chassis must first be removed from the rack after which the chassis cover can be removed to permit access to insert and/or remove expansion cards.
Other problems associated with inserting the expansion cards on the board. The include alignment of the card plug with the plug on the mother board, the card edge connector insertion/extraction force is quite large, and strain relief of the expansion card and the mother board requires consideration.
Therefore, what is needed is a device which protects and aligns an expansion card during insertion and removal of the card from a live chassis so that chassis covers do not have to be removed and the chassis does not have to be removed from a rack or cabinet.